March is Women’s Month at Ohio Wesleyan and senior Jill Warmke
hopes that people will attend the upcoming events with an open mind. “I
think people will realize that ‘feminist’ does not necessarily mean
bra-burning and man-hating,” she says.

According to the Infoplease Web site, Women’s History Month began in the United States in 1978 as “Women’s History Week” in Sonoma County, California. Senator Orrin Hatch and Representative Barbara Mikulski co-sponsored a joint Congressional resolution proclaiming a national Women’s History Week. Congress extended Women’s History Week to a month-long celebration in 1987.

“Women’s Month at OWU is coordinated by a number of organizations
here on campus including the Women’s Resource Center,” notes Assistant
Dean of Student Life Colleen Cook, who advises the Women’s
Resource Center. The Women’s House and Sisters United also play key roles
in the planning and organization of Women’s Month.

Warmke says people can expect to receive a newsletter this week with a full schedule for Women’s Month. Women’s issues such as domestic violence and breast cancer will be addressed during the events.

“Women still face hardships that men don’t even think about,” Warmke says. “It is important to celebrate the stories and triumphs of women and raise consciousness about women to all people. It is also a perfect time to bring together women and inform them of resources and issues that they may have previously been unaware of such as contraception information or safety on campus.”

“The students working in the Women’s Resource Center have done a fabulous job, creating a lot of new energy and excitement about the center, which I am hoping will make other students think about becoming actively involved in these issues,” says Cook.

Warmke agrees and hopes that people will learn something at the events. “Most of our events are educational, but in a classroom type of way,” she says. “I have yet to meet somebody who attended Take Back the Night and not been extremely moved and aware of the involved issues.”